Pebeuaey 26, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



359 



Senator Barnes has introduced a bill in 

 the jSTew York legislature appropriating $5,000 

 to establish in the State Prison Commission's 

 Department a laboratory for the study of 

 criminal, pauper and defective classes. A 

 director of the laboratory is to be appointed 

 by the governor at a salary of $3,000. 



The second International Congress of Phi- 

 losophy will be held at Geneva from the 

 fourth to the eighth of September of the 

 present year. The congress meets in five 

 sections — the history of philosophy, general 

 philosophy and psychology, applied philos- 

 ophy, logic and philosophy of the sciences 

 and history of the sciences, the last named 

 being at the same time the third Interna- 

 tional Congress of the History of the Sciences. 

 The subjects announced for the general ses- 

 sions are ' The place of the history of philos- 

 ophy in the study of philosophy,' the definition 

 of philosophy, the individual and the group, 

 and final causes in biology and neo-vital- 

 ism. The honorary president of the congress 

 is M. Ernest Naville, honorary professor of 

 philosophy at the University of Geneva, and 

 the president is M. J. J. Gourd, professor at 

 the university. The general secretary to 

 whom communications should be addressed is 

 Dr. Ed. Claparedede, 11 Champel, Geneva. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that ' The Order of 

 the Eshai ' is a recent scientific organization 

 whose membership consists of those who 

 earnestly and seriously have been and are par- 

 ticipating in the study of the paleontology 

 and geology of the sedimentary formations 

 of New Tork state. The order's monogram 

 is a combination of the letters N and Y, 

 slightly inverted, which form the Russian 

 letter eshai, and hence this word has been 

 used as the name of the order. One section 

 is composed of the ' Immortales ' or those who 

 have toiled and who now have ceased from 

 their labors, and there are two other sections 

 composed of living members. The keeper of 

 the rolls is Dr. John M. Clarke, state paleon- 

 ■fologist of New York. 



The Johns Hopkins Press announces the 

 publication of the lectures on ' Molecular 

 Dynamics and the Wave Theory of Light,' 



given by Lord Kelvin at the university in 

 October, 1884, and based on Mr. A. S. Hatha- 

 way's stenographic report; twelve appendices 

 on allied subjects are added by Lord Kelvin. 



A meeting of gentlemen interested in as- 

 tronomy was held at Edinburgh, on January 

 9, to make arrangements for resuscitating the 

 Astronomical Institution, originally founded 

 in 1812. 



The report of the meeting of the Zoological 

 Society of London held on January 19, 1904, 

 contains the following announcement : " An 

 ' Abstract of the Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society of London ' is published by the So- 

 ciety at 3 Hanover Square, London, W., on 

 the Tuesday following the date of meeting 

 to which it refers. It will be issued, free of 

 extra charge, to all fellows who subscribe to 

 the publications along with the ' Proceed- 

 ings ' ; but it may be obtained on the day of 

 publication at the price of sixpence, or, if 

 desired, sent post-free for the sum of six 

 shillings per annum, payable in advance." 

 This new publication, which has started with 

 the year 1904, is not the same as the privately 

 distributed reports of the meetings, which will 

 be continued as heretofore. The ' Abstract 

 of the Proceedings ' will, we understand, be a 

 small octavo of about eight pages, and will 

 include abstracts of the papers read, which 

 such authors as care to publish preliminary 

 and more or less intelligible descriptions of 

 their new species will be at liberty to use for 

 that purpose. We presume that the editor 

 will not insert in the ' Abstract ' brief diag- 

 noses of any new species of which the author 

 has not already supplied a complete and 

 proper description, accepted by the society 

 for ultimate publication in extenso. 



The Biological Society of Washington has 

 arranged for five Saturday afternoon illus- 

 trated lectures to be given in the United 

 States National Museum. The program of 

 lectures is : February 20, ' The Exploration of 

 the Deep Sea,' C. H. Townsend; February 

 27, 'The Living Forest,' Gifford Pinchot; 

 March 5, ' A Naturalist's Winter in Mexico," 

 E. W. Nelson; March 12, 'The Evolution of 

 the Horse,' Henry F. Osbom ; March 19, ' The 



